So far, March is living up to the old proverb of coming in like a lion. We have been battered by strong winds, hail, torrential rain and clouds scuttling across the leaden sky at break-neck speed. Generally the weather wouldn’t bother me at all but I have a new area in the garden that I want to get sorted out sooner rather than later. I have a pile of soil that I have started to level off so that I can put down some grass seed, but with so much wet the soil just sticks to my boots and I come back to the house several cms taller!

The picture doesn’t show just how wet the ground is!

This lunchtime we managed to have a dry walk around the village and the clouds even parted to allow some very welcome sun and warmth to reach us. The frogs have started their mating and their calls for a female are more apparent. Taking advantage of the warming stones they sit on tiny ledges in the wall by the stream, well camouflaged, and ready to dive to safety.

The warmth has also brought out the ‘Gendarmes’ – not the French police, but the vibrant firebugs. The French call them ‘Gendarmes’ because red and black were the colours of the original gendarme uniforms when they were soldiers and part of the army. (See, I’m full of useless facts)! There can easily be a hundred of them all grouped together. Thankfully they are harmless.

Not hundreds here, but there were lots of smaller groups all over this wall.

I’d like to be optimistic and think that this brief dry interlude is here to stay but another band of rain is heading this way and already the skies are darkening. Oh well, I have plenty of other things to be doing.